Friday, October 09, 2015

Five on Friday

The weeks are just whizzing by lately!! It seems every time I turn around, here we are at Friday ... again!!! But that's OK because I can join in with Amy at Love Made My Home for Five on Friday!!! Yay!!! It's important to use a lot of exclamation marks!!! when you link up with Amy's "Five"!!!!!!! ;)

Here are five random things that have made me happy this week!!!

One!

My pale yellow hollyhock is continuing to bloom even now!! These flowers are just amazing, and I'm continuously drawn outside to see them close up when I find I'm admiring them from my kitchen window. The pale yellow is maybe not my favourite colour for these flowers, but the flowers have such a transparent quality that makes them so interesting, and the sunlight shining on them makes them sort of glow!! My mom always had the deep burgundy coloured hollyhocks, and I don't remember them having this transparent look to them.

The flower is not in the greatest spot squeezed up against the compost box and the daylillies (long finished now). I'm considering just removing the compost box altogether since I don't use it much and we do have weekly compost pick-up with our town's garbage collection. This box has attracted ants!! I'm just not sure of how to dispose of it when it's full of ants!!

Two!

Only a few flowers are blooming in the garden now. Although our days have been quite warm this week (up to 20C), the nights are still too cold for some of the plants and they're starting to die back. I do love these hot pink blooms of the portulacas!!

Still a few buds trying hard to open on my miniature yellow rose.

Three!

Speaking of flowers dying back outside. Last weekend I started to thoroughly clean and organize my kitchen. That got me looking out on the patio and ... hmmmm ... "maybe I should bring in a few plants before it gets much colder". So I brought in all my potted plants and set them up in the kitchen, my living room and my daughter's empty room. My kitchen went from super organized and tidy to then having this corner full of garden plants!!

There is still one pink geranium out there, but it's in the ground. Since I've run out of places to put the pots, I might exchange a red geranium for the pinke one. I like the pink blooms better!!

Four!

And with the plants coming in, we also had to bring in my son's fish from the pond!! So much work!! I left the cleaning of the indoor fish tank to my son and husband. It's a 50-gallon tank, and all the rocks had to be scooped out, bleached and cleaned, as well as all the plastic plants!! All of the fish in the tank died from some disease in the early spring, so we needed to disinfect everything in it before the new fish were brought inside. It's now all cleaned up, with fresh water and the one remaining adult shebunkin and three!!! little babies were brought in on Tuesday. The three babies were a surprise bonus. We had bought about three sets of fish throughout the summer, and all of them died except this last silvery orange. Then I realized I could see two little baby fish in the pond!! A couple of weeks ago, I saw another baby in there!! Rather exciting for us after all the fish deaths happening here.

Can you see the tiny baby that has koi-like markings in the next photo?! So cute!!

We still have to give these guys names. We're thinking Orange Sherbert for the adult fish. The other two babies are not very exciting colour-wise. They're a sort of greenish brown, but in some lighting their fins look orange. Hopefully, they'll be nice looking fish as they grow.

Five!

This is my favourite store just outside of Algonquin Park in Whitney, Ontario. "Menwahtay Gift Shop". The lady who owns the store is really nice and grew up in the area. I believe she has an apartment above the store, and to the one side is a really nice, rather overgrown garden complete with a pond and lots of pieces of driftwood, rocks, rustic gazebo and fun bits of garden art. We always visit this store when we go camping. It's outside the east gate of the park, so it's a bit of a trek along the highway, but well worth it. My favourite part of the store is the garden portion in the back. No plants, but all kinds of gardening ornaments all very whimsical. I've picked up several small garden statues here in the past. The rest of the store is full of beautiful pottery, carvings, jewelry, etc. And all of it is well made. I've picked up several pieces of pottery here that remind me of the water and rocks of the area. Also some metal artwork made from oil drums. There's usually something new and interesting to keep us coming in each year. And the reason I bring my own geraniums indoors for winter?? This lady has two giant geraniums outside her front door. You can sort of see one of them in the photo, and it's almost as tall as the door!!

31 comments:

So, you have to bring in the fish this time of year, huh? That DOES sound like a bit of work.I do love hollyhocks and mine are red and pink. I saw yellow when we visited Amsterdam a few years ago. Aren't they LOVELY?I like your blog! This is my first Five on Friday!

Love all your !!!!!!! Did remind me of the lovely Amy :o) So nice to still have some flowers blooming, but it sure is a sign of winter coming when they start moving indoors. Hope you have a lovely weekend x

It looks like you've been doing lots of the same things as me. That store looks like a great place to visit. We used to go to Algonquin a lot when we had our tent trailer, but haven't been for a few years. It's a foggy and damp day today but the weekend looks promising.

I love the hollyhock flower Wendy its so delicate and beautiful. Looking after fish is hard work and it's awful when they keep dying, I got rid of my tank in the Spring and to be honest I don't miss it at all, I got tired of all the cleaning, I hope the baby fish survive and go on to have more babies. I brought my geraniums in last year but this year I'm leaving them to take their chances because it does clutter the kitchen up and mines tiny. That store sounds just like the type of place I would love to rummage in. Have a great weekend. :) xx

I love your Hollyhock, they always remind me of my grandma's garden, I'd love to grow them here and have tried but they don't like our soil. Glad you found the baby fish and you've reminded me that I have two or three plants outside in pots that need to come in before it gets too cold for them. Thank you for your comment on my blog I've added an extra photo so you can see what size the dandelion sculptures are:)

Hi Wendy, I love that you bring in your geraniums to winter over - I have one and never thought to bring it inside, but now I will do that and see if I can get it to survive. How sweet to find the baby fish.....they sound like survivors, so maybe these will flourish and grow. Your hollyhock is so pretty and what an unusual color! My Mom grew hollyhocks - great, tall ones against her fence. I have always wanted to grow them, perhaps I will try next spring. Your favorite store sounds wonderful with lots of treasures. I love hand-made pottery and I can never find garden sculptures around here. Hope you have a good weekend! x Karen

It looks like you have a lovely garden. I fondly remember hollyhocks from my childhood. I haven't seen them in years though. I hope you don't have a hard winter. I'm so looking forward to "winter" here in southern California as they say we are suppose to get lots of rain. I can hardly wait. Enjoy your weekend !

Holly hocks are such lovely flowers. I have pink geraniums that are still flowering too. Cor I didn't realise you had to bring the fish in for Winter but I suppose it makes sense. I can't believe we are preparing for winter already, have a lovely weekend xx

I love the exclamations!!!!!!! Hee hee, you are such a good friend!!!! I know you said that you had bought your plants in, but I wasn't expecting to see so many! Wow, that is a lot, but it will be so good if you can keep them all to next year and you will enjoy them through the winter. That store looks like a great place to explore doesn't it. Thank you - as always! - for joining Five On Friday. I hope that you have a great thanksgiving weekend!!!!! xx p.s. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! xx

Beautiful flowers, especially love those yellow hollyhocks. I tried growing them once and the leaves were always full of holes from some bug. I bring in the geraniums, too; they seem to winter very well inside in our east-facing window. So nice to capture and keep some of summer's beauty through the winter.

I love all yellow flowers, and find your hollyhocks absolutely enchanting, Wendy. The gift shop looks great fun, just the sort of place I enjoy too. I just did Google maps to see where it is - not so very far from where my daughter lives :))

I think you brought the plants in just in time before our first frost Wendy. Too bad about the fish in the tank and I'm glad our pond is deep enough to leave our goldfish (and frogs in the bottom) over winter. Ours are like rabbits and our fish count increases greatly every summer.Love the yellow hollyhock, don't often see that colour.Happy Thanksgiving.

It's always so hard to get things ready for the coming cold weather. Believe it or not we have several freezes here each winter and I have to leave faucets dripping and cover the plants left outdoors. But it's all a lot less devastating than for people living in colder climes. Love that pale pink flower...the delicate look of that papery thin petal is just lovely. And the portulaca is gorgeous!

I just love the efforts you go through saving your flowers and fish! Such a nature caregiver. Love that!! And that store looks so fun & sounds like something right up my alley. ;) Blessings on your weekend. I'll be back to blog land this week. Xo

Just had to stop by and say HI! I made it back from Sacramento and I appreciate your thoughtful and uplifting words and friendship. Thank you!This little fish are so adorable, I cannot imagine the anxiety you must get when you relocated them inside! We have had fish bowls, never an aquarium so I am certain there is a huge difference:)I know that your Autumn will turn to Winter soon and I always admire how you prepare for the transition.Wishing you a good mid week!xoJemma

Your Hollyhock looks so healthy! Mine had rust on the leaves which I believe is quite common, but I think it must be a different kind from yours as mine have huge leaves and grow really tall. I prefer yours actually! Love the geraniums in the kitchen, after all the season for them outside is all to brief really so nice to see them displayed indoors. I will have to bring mine in soon as no doubt there will be some frosts in the not too distant future. That store looks really beautiful with the floral displays. :-)